Till This Lie Do Us Part
by A. Alice-LaCasse
Summary: She was fascinatingly ordinary, except for her dreams - and it was her dreams that brought her to him. But not even her dreams were able to stop the inevitable uprising, a war that she was suddenly thrust into. — [Loki x OC]
1. So It Begins

**Till This Lie Do Us Part**

**Chapter One:** So It Begins

* * *

_The story o__f your life is so twisted_

_'Cause someone out there is missing_

_Everything you do_

_You're wasted_

_Nothing ever really makes sense_

_If you keep searching you'll find me_

_Hidden inside you._

– "_The Story of Your Life" by We the Kings._

* * *

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

The dreams always began the same. First, there was a dark abyss of nothingness, then a small flicker of light, a chased whisper in ever drowning darkness. And in the span of what seemed like few seconds, her entire world would explode in a flash of bright lights.

This time was no different, and before she even realized what was happening, she knew that _his_ face would be the one she will see. His face always haunted her. Part of her hated him more than anything in this world, and yet at the same time, she couldn't help but to want know more about him. He was like a drug; once you tasted it, you can't quit it.

However, this time something was different, _wrong_. She couldn't see him anywhere, and his soft voice did not meet her ears like it usually did. And when she finally realized what was happening she almost gasped in horror. She did not know what shocked her more: the fact that the beautiful bridge she always loved seeing in her dreams was now destroyed, or the fact that two familiar figures were hanging above a dark void, being held by another figure she easily recognized. Everything around them was falling apart, sucked in by the dark hole.

Only then she saw him clearly and noticed his facial expression. Never before had she seen him look so defeated, so lost. Every single glimpse she got of his life, he was proud, stealthy, witty; never so saddened. Even during the darkest moments of his life when he was bested by his brother, or had to play alone because others found him strange, he had that steely determination on his face, never giving up, and always facing another day with his head held high. She always admired that strong will of his, but now she couldn't see even a smallest trace of it on his face.

"I could have done it, father," he yelled, his expression sorrowful. "I could have done it!"

The pure emotion behind his words made her heart squeeze tightly, wondering just what exactly he tried to do.

"For you, for all of us!" he continued, his words slightly choked, eyes full of glistering tears.

But she could only see one emotion on Odin's face:

_Disappointment_.

He was not proud of him, he was not happy; in fact it was the exact opposite. Odin looked so tired and so crestfallen. And only two words passed through his lips.

"_No, Loki_."

All she could do was watch as Loki's expression crumbled, and his face was coloured by emotion she could only describe as utter heartbreak. Then the anguish on his face seemingly faded and the only two emotions remaining were sadness and regret. And at that moment, she could almost hear his thoughts in her head and she wanted to scream at him to stop, and yet she couldn't find her voice no matter how much she tried. Thor, who was staring at his brother, seemed to come to the same realization she had, and a pained shout left his mouth.

"Loki, no!"

For a moment it looked like Loki was about to smile and everything would be fine, but instead his hand slipped and he released his hold on the staff, falling down into the dark abyss.

"_**NO**_!" Thor screamed, and it took her only few seconds to realize that she was screaming along with him.

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

Alex bolted from her bed, a strangled scream dying in her throat. Her right hand was outstretched forwards as if she was reaching to grab someone. She gasped at the sudden sharp pain that pierced her head, her hand clenching onto her sweat-covered forehead. She always thought that with time she would get used to these dreams and the aftereffects of them, but it never happened.

Alex shakily brushed her hand under her nose and just as she predicted, her hand was covered in scarlet droplets of blood. She fell back onto her bed, her heart still beating widely in her chest, her breathing shallow. Headaches happened all the time – she was used to them by now, as they were ever present for many years now. However, the bleeding only came after the worst of them. And at times like these she felt as if her dreams will be what would kill her one day.

She was always different. She was the black sheep of her rich family. Her parents always saw her as their little China doll; one they can dress up and command around. After all, how could she ever be any better than her two older brothers? One of them being a CEO of his own business and another a successful lawyer. And Alex? Well, her parents expected her to follow her brothers' footsteps and be rich and successful by the time she hit 20. And after all that effort they put into making sure that happened, she ended up working in a Music shop. It was rather ironic in her option. It took her a long time to realize that she was a bit more special then she thought, it was only when she got older did she understood that there was something different about her, something not quite normal.

But then again, what was normal anyway?

"Alex?" a voice called out, accompanied by a loud knock on her bedroom door. Alex moaned lowly, sluggishly pulling herself off the bed and moved towards the door.

"I'm fine," she called back.

"I heard you scream again," the person said, usually chirpy voice coloured with genuine worry. "Are you sure you're alright? Please unlock the door," the person said, and the lock jingled twice.

Alex quickly wiped any remains of blood off her face and swiftly opened the door to her room.

She was met with a face of her tall, blue-eyed, blonde roommate who was staring at her like she was an alien from another planet.

"Girl, you look like crap," she commented plainly, her eyes wide.

Alex winced, trying to brush back her brown strands of hair. She must have looked like hell; she was aware that after _those_ dreams her hair looked like even bigger mess than it usually did, the already present dark circles under her eyes became even more noticeable, and not to forget her pale and sweat covered face. To be honest she had given herself a few good scares after she wobbled into the bathroom to clean up after her dreams before.

"Thanks, Beth, that's exactly what I want to hear on a Monday morning," Alex replied dully, rubbing her eyes.

"Well, get dressed. I have so much to tell you about my date last night," she squeaked happily, her blue eyes full of excitement.

"Yeah, sure, just give me a sec," Alex mumbled in reply, moving to close the door.

Alex liked Beth, she honestly did, but that girl talked all the time. Certainly longer than Alex could stay focused enough to listen. She'd always been the silent type, especially when she was little. One of the first and only lessons her mother ever thought her was to know how to keep her mouth shut and don't blabber. Only after she got sick of being the 'perfect little daughter' did Alex began voicing her options more loudly, began defying her parents orders. To them she was just an obedient little girl they could parade in front of their so-called 'friends'.

Only after Alex began going to a private school that they decided was best for her, did they realized that unlike her brothers Alex had no special talents nor was she quite as smart as them. And soon her worth in their eyes dropped, and the only thing she was now good for was marriage. Her parents at least hoped that she would marry a rich man that would make them look good again.

She felt sick just thinking about them.

They were business people, both of them, and they saw their own children as investments rather than their offsprings. And since Alex was ordinary, her parents saw no use in her.

She never felt close to any of her family, except her oldest brother and her grandparents. Matthew, or Matt as Alex always liked calling him, was the one who always took care of her. He was kind and loved her genuinely, like a brother should love his little sister, but Matt was 31 and had a life of his own. He moved out when Alex was still a child. So she barley ever saw him anymore, which led to them growing apart over the years they rarely ever saw each other. She knew that he was planning to get married to his fiancé this upcoming September, and Alex was genuinely happy for them.

And then there was her grandparents; Alex adored them. She loved spending her summers in their ranch close to Alaska border. That place was the most beautiful home Alex had ever been to. The green grass, the lake, the forest, the never ending slopes of mountains; she could remember it all. Alex often wished that she was born to her grandparents instead; it would have made her so much happier. She always knew she could trust them with everything, even her darkest secrets…

And her darkest secret they knew.

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

"And then, he was, like, you're the most beautiful girl in the world and I don't want some idiot stealing you away," Beth spoke her voice full of happiness as she munched on her cereal cheerfully.

Alex was sitting opposite to her, now fully dressed and ready for her day. Her posture however was slack as she sketched on a blank page of her notebook. She couldn't help herself. All she could see was Loki's face as he let go and fell. Why would he let go? She didn't even care who he was, why would he do such a thing? And just what happened to the Rainbow Bridge?

"_No, Loki_."

Alex flinched, pausing at her drawing. She hated Loki. He was haunting her at every turn. For months now, she's been dreaming about him, seeing his life in completely random order. She blinked down at the page and there he was, imprinted on the page, even though she did not want to draw him at all. His handsome face was everywhere she looked and it was beginning to drive her insane.

The drawing itself was far from perfect; in fact she had nothing on her brother Matt, who was absolutely brilliant at drawing. But, of course, her parents saw drawing only as a worthless hobby, and nothing serious enough to work onto further. Alex, on other hand, was always envious of his amazing talent. The way he made drawings seem like they had a life of their own every single time was truly amazing. As for Alex, she had to practice all the time to make her own drawings better, unlike her brother who never tried and yet it all came effortlessly to him anyway.

"Allie? Are you listening to me?"

Alex also knew she was odd. She was normal on the outside – normal hobbies, somewhat normal life, normal appearance, and yet _everything_ special about her only showed itself when she dreamt. First, Alex was convinced that her dreams were random and completely irrelevant, but when she got older she began noticing that she sometimes said things to people that no one else knew. Only then did she realize that there was something more to her. That maybe she was special after all. Her dreams showed not only the past, but present and future. There was only one problem: the dreams felt like physical torture and she had no way of controlling them.

"Alex?"

She only ever trusted her grandparents enough to tell them about her dreams. They were the only ones who knew that the constant headaches she got, and all those times she woke up screaming in pain were not random at all. Often her dreams seemed more like a curse than a gift, especially after she dreamt both of grandparents' deaths.

Her grandmother's death being the first death Alex ever dreamt about before. She saw her own grandmother die from cancer in a span of what felt like minutes but was actually five long months in real life. And then of course her granddad, who she always wished was actually her father. The dream about his heart attack was so sudden that Alex had not time to stop it or warn him about it. That happened only a month ago, and Alex remembered that day very well since never before had she cried so much. It has also been a month since she'd seen her parents. Not that she really minded it.

"ALEX HARPER!"

Alex jumped, silently thankful that she was not drawing at that moment, as the drawing would have been completely ruined. She looked up, wide-eyed, at Beth's livid face.

"Have you been listening to a word I just said?" she snapped.

Alex blinked slowly and shook her head, "Honestly? No. I'm sorry but I have a lot on my mind today."

"You mean you're being a total creep and drawing that sexy guy again?" she asked, arching her blonde eyebrow. Alex bristled at the 'sexy guy' part but covered her drawing with her hand.

"No," she muttered, but even in her own ears it lacked conviction. "He's not even real."

Beth just rolled her eyes and skilfully snatched the notebook from underneath her arms. Alex let out a small grunt and glared openly at Beth who was flipping through pages.

"Are you sure he's not real? You've been constantly drawing him for the last few months, it's starting to creep me out," she drawled, ever so often stopping on a specific drawing. "Ohhh, he's name is Loki? Hot. I have to admit, I'd tap that."

Alex snatched the notebook from her friend's hands, quickly glancing at the page Beth was looking at. It was a picture she drew about two weeks ago. It was the dream of Thor's crowning day. Loki was standing beside Lady Sif and his mother Frigga, looking as arrogant and as handsome as he usually did. She remembered seeing a much darker look on his face that day, a look she never seen before, not to this extent at least. She was aware that Loki was always hidden in Thor's shadow from back when they were children. She pieced that much even from the scattered memories she got. It must have been hard living such life, she sure as hell knew what that felt like. But at least Loki was strong, smart, had his magic, and his parents still loved him. Alex on other hand none of those things.

She was first uneasy with an idea of dreaming about actual _Gods_, but after a while she began enjoying her dreams and seeing that magnificent realm, even if only through her dreams. After all, she grew up with her grandparents telling her about Norse Mythology as well as others.

"You have a boyfriend," Alex responded curly, breathing a small sigh. "And I'm _sure_ that he does not exist." _Not in this world at least._

"Allie, William may be the best guy on Earth, but I still have eyes," she explained haughtily. "I mean that man is sex on legs…oh, you're late for work."

Alex gaped and wheeled around, following Beth's line of vision and cursed loudly when she realized that she was indeed 10 minutes late. She immediately jumped off her chair and dashed to get her bag and other things. Beth just sat in the same spot, counting the minutes that it took for Alex to get ready. She smiled briefly ever time she heard Alex curse loudly and multiple 'thumps' once she tripped or fell on something.

"3.31, well done, that has to be your new record," Beth remarked once Alex ran from her room, all-while trying and failing to pull on her shoes. Alex simply grumbled in reply, pulling on her coat and grabbing her bag.

"You forgot this," Beth said in singsong voice, waving her best friend's black notebook above her head, knowing very well that Alex rarely ever parted with that thing. There was a moment of silence and then the notebook was snatched from Beth's hands causing her to smirk smugly.

"See you later, honey," she waved her hand this time. "Have fun."

And the last thing Beth heard was a brief 'Bye' before doors slammed shut and the sound of running footsteps soon faded down the collider.

Beth grinned. That girl was such a daydreamer. But that was one of the best things about her.

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

This always happened. Every. Single. Bloody. Time.

She hated being late, and yet she always was. Somehow.

Alex was completely out of breath as she rushed down the busy New York streets. People were everywhere and she got little comfort seeing that she was not the only one running late. Taking deep breaths, Alex ran down the crossing, pushing past the masses of people around her. Few rude remarks were thrown her way and she turned around throwing back a quick apology their way. But when she turned around, she failed to notice just how close she was to running into someone until it happened.

A loud grunt escaped her lips as she ran directly into a tall man, judging by the fact that it felt more like a brick wall than human flesh. The precious notebook that she was holding in her arms flew out of them, few loose pages inside of it scattering around her.

"I'm so sorry, Miss, I did not see you. Are you alright?" a warm, concerned voice asked.

Alex groaned in return holding onto her nose. She looked up, her eyes widening a bit. The man before her was very good looking. Her head barley reach his armpit, his body tall and extremely well built. His face was round, strong jaw and a pair of kind blue eyes. His sandy coloured hair was parted to one side, not a single strand sticking out.

She simply nodded and quickly got onto her knees gathering her drawings, flushing in embarrassment. Figures she would make a fool out of herself in front of good-looking man. However, she was caught off guard when another pair of large hands joined hers, helping her to gather the scattered drawings.

"Oh, no, it's alright. You don't have to help me," she mumbled hurriedly, already feeling bad that she ran into him. "I'm sorry I ran into you."

"Accidents happen," the stranger simply said.

Alex jumped onto her feet, quickly shoving the drawing inside, but still taking time to make sure that they did not crease or get dirty. The man handed the remaining drawings back to her, and she smiled gratefully.

"My granddad used to say that there is no such thing as accidents," she said jokingly. The man smiled widely and nodded his head – Alex got an impression that he wasn't much of a talker. "Just fate."

"Your granddad sounds like a smart man," the man said quietly and Alex nodded in agreement.

"He was," she whispered, sadly, before shaking her head and offering her hand to him. "Anyway, I'm Alex Harper."

"Steve Rogers at your service, Miss Harper."

Alex couldn't help but to laugh out loud. Who talked like that now-days?

"Charmed to meet you kind sir," she replied grinning, and Steve smiled bashfully. Only then did she remember that she was actually very late for work.

"Damn. I'm so sorry but I have to go, I'm really late. Thank you for helping me, and sorry I ran into you again." she spoke hastily, already moving past him. She waved her goodbyes at him, hurrying down the street.

Steve blinked in confusion and only a moment later noticed one last drawing laying not far from where he stood. He grabbed the white piece of paper and turned around.

"Wait, you left–" But Steve stopped, sighing when he noticed that the brown eyed girl he just met was nowhere in sight. He glanced at the paper in his hands, examining the drawing on it. It was a coloured drawing of a man with sharp features, slick back black hair, emerald green eyes and bizarre body armour. It wasn't the best drawing he had ever seen, but it was still pleasant for the eye; the girl had talent.

With that thought in his mind, Steve Rogers carefully folded the drawing into four parts and placed it in his pocket.

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

Nick Fury was a busy man. And not only because he was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. but also because he was responsible for keeping one of the most secure organisations in the world a complete secret, and this took a great deal of time and effort. He was also responsible for dozens of Agents all over the world working for his organisation. This was also no easy task. He was always doing something one way or another.

He was debriefing few of his Agents that came from a mission in Russia, when Agent Coulson walked through the meeting room doors, carrying a white envelope in his hands.

"Sir, there is a letter for you from Harry Harper," Coulson announced, watching as Fury glanced at the letter and back at him.

"Harry? How is he? I haven't heard from him in a while," Fury said, taking the letter from Coulson's hands.

"I believe he passed away a month ago, sir," Coulson replied, surprised to see a brief flash of sadness in the older man's eyes.

"That's a shame he was a good man, a good friend," he said woefully, effortlessly tearing the seal placed on the envelope, pulling out a rich, creamed coloured paper from inside.

Coulson waited patiently as Fury's single eye flew down the page, taking in every word very carefully. He was done in less than a minute, and spoke without lifting his eye from the letter.

"Get the car ready, Coulson."

Coulson shifted, his face showing his confusion. "Sir?"

"We're going recruiting, Agent."

* * *

**AN:** WELCOME! Greetings new readers and old ones. I'm glad you decided to read my story and I hope you liked the first chapter! I simply could not go another day without writing something Avengers related, it was becoming simply impossible. And I loved Loki since Thor, not only because he is good looking but because he is so god damn complicated and I love writing about twisted characters like him.

My usual readers also know that I don't jump into romance, I like to make it realistic, and let's be honest Loki would not jump someones bones in a span of five chapters. Not possible. He hates humans. Exactly, why Alex is that little bit more. And I really hope to make her not your usual Mary-sue, that's why she's utterly ordinary minus her crazy dreams that do more harm than good, since every power has to have a weak-point in my option. I'm also aware that people do not like Loki paired with an OC, but to me, this is more about two kinder souls finding some sort of peace in each others presence. If that makes any sense. :D

Also, sorry for the lack of Loki but he will come in very soon, I want to build the actual back-story first. But you got a bit of Steve! I love that guy! He was actually my second choice to write about after Loki. And just so you know, this is set around a week or two before Avengers begin. And that's that. ;)

Let me know what you think of it so far, and if I need to improve anything.

**Regards.**

**A.~ **


	2. The Man From the Other Side

**Till This Lie Do Us Part**

**Chapter Two:** The Man From the Other Side

* * *

_You've seen the face _

_Forever haunts your dreams _

_It's always there to p__enetrate your mind_

_When you close your eyes _

_It's in your head _

_Another self-made dream? _

_You can't hide from this nightmare _

_That contaminates your mind._

– "_Haunted Dreams" by Dawn of Silence._

* * *

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

_Dear Nick,_

_If you are readings this letter, then I am no longer amongst the living. I wish that this letter could be my last goodbye to you and nothing more, but there is something important that you have to know about me that I never told you before. We have and always will be great friends and I know that you trusted me as much as I trusted you. However, there was one secret in my life that even you never knew about. Until now._

_Do you remember when you came to visit Margret and I one summer eleven years ago? Back then you met my only granddaughter that was only 11. My dear, sweet little Alex. There is much I have not told you about her, Nick, and for that I apologise dearly. But, you have to understand that I was only trying to protect my own family from any harm. However, my time has come to an end and I'm afraid that you're the only one who can help her now. Alex was never just a simple little girl everyone believed her to be; she was always that much more._

_I believe she posses the same powers Abigail Ravenswood once possessed, except much more potent. _

_You remember than woman, don't you? _

_Then you will know exactly why Alex has to be protected. I have done my best to help her control her gifts while I was still alive, but I fear that I was of little use. Lately her powers have become more aggressive and unstable. And I truly fear that if she doesn't learn to control them soon they will kill her._

_So, I ask of you Nick – please, take care of her. Don't leave her to face this alone; she's not strong enough, not yet. I know I'm being selfish for placing such burden on you, but you're the only man I would ever trust this secret with. _

_So, please; protect her as your own, for I can no longer do it myself._

**You Friend Forever.**

**Harry J. Harper **

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

Alex was having a lousy day.

As if waking up screaming, accidently running into someone, and being late for work _again_ wasn't bad enough already, Alex had to stand through a rather long, boring lecture she got from her boss for being late again and listen to him talk about how untrustworthy she always was. After he was done, she was then forced to go into the Storage room and sort out the new deliveries as a form of punishment. Thankfully, soon her co-workers and good friends Martha and Dom joined her, all whilst teasing her about her constant tardiness. Suffice to say, they were all tired by lunch since there were far more customers in the shop than usual, especially considering it was a early Monday afternoon.

So by the time her lunch break came, Alex only wanted to collapse onto the now empty boxes in the Storage room and sleep for another week. She was so tired. Part of it was obviously due to her lack of sleep, but other part was due to the fact that Alex couldn't shake off an odd feeling she'd been having entire day.

"Hey, Allie you alright? You look like you're about to fall asleep standing," Martha's voice asked from her left, and Alex jerked slightly, realizing she was spacing off again. She turned to the young redhead beside her and gave her a tiny smile.

"I'm good, you know me," she replied, placing the CDs in her hands on the small shelf labelled 'L'.

_Loki._

Alex growled under her breath and hurriedly staked the remaining CDs before rushing towards another shelf, gaining an peculiar look from Martha.

"It's past one, Allie, we can go for lunch now," Martha announced, watching the tense brunette carefully. She had to admit ever since Alex had started working in the Music shop five months ago, they have become good friends. At first it was hard to crack her shell since Alex was as silent as a grave, but eventually they began conversing and soon found that they had quite few things in common. And lately, even an idiot could notice that Alex was tenser than usual. She drew in her notebook almost all the time, and all of her drawings consisted of the same thing: a man with green eyes. Martha was becoming more and more worried by the day; Alex looked constantly tired, like she was getting no sleep at all, her pale skin even paler than usual.

Physically, Martha and Alex looked nothing alike. Martha had always been tall, lean, dark red hair just above her shoulders, and narrow blue eyes. Alex on other hand was a tiny, petite little thing, with wild wavy brown hair almost reaching her elbows, and large doe-like brown eyes. Maybe it was their physical differences, but Martha always felt rather protective of her younger co-worker.

The redhead watched as Alex staked the CDs with more force than necessary and hastily strode towards the doors labelled "Staff Members Only" after she finished.

"What's wrong with her lately?" Dom asked as he walked up to stand beside Martha who was watching the young brunet disappear behind the door.

"I have no idea," she replied lowly, turning to face her friend. "But we have to do something. Maybe we should ask Mr. Robbs to give her a few days off. She looks like she's exhausted."

Dom titled his head to one side, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. "But from what? It's not like she's getting laid."

Martha's hand shot out and a loud slap echoed around the shop as her hand connected with Dom's blond head. The young man winced, sending a glare at the redhead beside him.

"What? It's the truth. Have you ever _seen_ her with anyone before?"

Martha sighed angrily. "No, but that doesn't mean she's some crazy lady living alone with forty cats."

"Well, now that you mentioned it – _OW_! Will you stop hitting me?"

"I will when you stop being a moron," Martha she said with deceptive sweetness. "Hold down the home front, won't you? I'll go talk with her."

Dom grumbled something quietly, sounding suspiciously like 'that crazy woman' but nodded his head walking towards the counter.

Martha found Alex sitting in the little kitchen they used during their lunchtime if they decided to stay in the shop. Frankly, they didn't use it often, rather choosing to eat in the dinner just a cross the street, as it had become a tradition for them. The older girl paused for few seconds, watching Alex for a moment – her shoulders were curved inwards in what looked like a defensive position, her lips a straight line, her eyes almost glassy as her pencil traced and created new lines on a blank page of her notebook.

"Hey, you've eaten yet?" she asked softly, noticing how her friend's body tensed before relaxing once she recognised her voice.

Alex blinked few time, as if trying to comprehend the question and shook her head 'no'.

Martha smiled widely and plopped down onto a chair beside Alex, taking a quick peek at her friends drawing. Unsurprisingly, she found a pair of dark eyes staring back at her.

"Oh, it's _him_ again," Martha said icily, her gaze hardening. Alex looked down at the page and sighed tiredly, rubbing her eyes. She let the pencil drop from her numb looking fingers and grabbed the bag that contained her food instead.

"I'm sorry I can't help it," she whispered softly. "I see him everywhere."

Martha gazed at her friend's sleepy expression. "Is he someone you know?"

"You could say that," Alex responded elusively, an odd flash of amusement passing through her eyes.

Alex rested her elbows on the table, fingers picking with nervous energy at the label of her water bottle and simultaneously trying not to yawn.

"It's been a long day and you look tired as hell, maybe you should go home early," Martha suggested, worry clearly evident in her smooth voice. "I haven't seen you this beat since, well, _forever_. Even Dom noticed, and that guy is an idiot."

Alex snorted, her eyes gaining a mischievous spark, "Yes, on the topic of _Dom_. How is it going between you two," she said suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows.

Martha gasped in outrage, her blue eyes narrowing with fake anger. "Alex Harper, I would never!"

"Sure you won't," Alex said, taking a bite out of her Tuna sandwich. "That's what they all say."

Martha grinned slyly. "Oh, does that mean it's the same with you and the mystery man you keep drawing all the time?"

The cheerful, almost carefree atmosphere they carefully created evaporated the second the words left Martha's mouth, quickly replaced by tense silence. Alex face darkened almost immediately, her hands tightening around her water bottle, making the plastic groan under pressure.

"I'm sorry, but you know nothing about him," she said in a clipped voice, "Can we talk about something else?"

Swallowing slowly, Martha nodded; surprised by how defensive Alex seemed to become very time the man with green eyes was mentioned.

"So, do you want to go shopping this–"

Whatever Martha was about to say got cut off by the half-closed doors flying open and panicked looking Dom running into the room.

"Dom? What the hell?" Alex asked, standing up.

"Guys, there is–"

But two darkly dressed men that walking into the room cut him off as well. One of them wore a black, crisp suite, looking every bit a professional. His face betraying his age to be around 40ties, his light brown coloured hair somehow making him look slightly younger. A sharp pair of blue eyes watching them all thoughtfully, calculatingly.

The other man was standing slightly in front of first one, clearly a leader from the two. His appearance was completely different from the first man's. For a starters he was dressed head-to-toe in coal black clothing, a long leather trench coat hanging on his frame almost reaching the ground. His head was bald, and his dark skin blending in almost perfectly with his clothes. He looked to be in his 50ties, a stern expression on his face. Still, by far the most striking feature about him was a black leather patch covering his left eye. For some strange reason Alex got a feeling she'd seen him before. The man looked awfully familiar to her.

"Alex Harper?"

Alex made a small choking sound, causing both men turn their attention on her. Whoever these two men were, she knew they meant business, she could feel it. Martha was as still as a stone beside her. Dom was standing in the corner of the room, looking positively stricken by what was happening.

"T-That'll be me."

The bald man nodded his head. "My name is Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD. Although, I'm sure you've never heard of us before."

"I have," she replied, cringing at the look Martha and Dom gave her, and the brief flash of surprise in Fury's visible eye. "My granddad told me about you once."

And he did. He was ambiguous about them at best, telling her only that they were good people and that he was good friend of their leader. Also that if a day ever came, she could trust them. But that was many years ago.

"I see, if you don't mind, we would like to speak with you privately," he said seriously, his visible eye moving to rest on Martha and then flickering to Dom. "The conversation we're about to have is probably the most important conversation of your life. This is not for outsiders to hear."

"Now, wait a damn minute–" Martha hissed, moving forward, but stopped when she felt Alex hand take a firm hold of her shoulder.

"Go now, Martha," Alex ordered, not taking her eyes from Fury and what she presumed his second hand man standing behind him. "I'll be fine. They will not harm me."

Martha turned to stare at her in shock. "Allie, you don't even know who they are! Not really."

"I said go," she said more firmly this time, her eyes narrowing a little. "I won't ask again."

Alex could see the anger and confusion, mixed with worry in Martha's eyes but ignored it, giving Dom a sharp nod. The blond man moved forward without another word, wrapping his arm around Martha's shoulder, pulling her towards the door. Martha glared at him hotly, but moved without protest, casting a last panicked look towards Alex as the door clicked shut.

There was a long beat of silence, before Fury broke it, "That was a wise choice."

"How did you find me?" she asked sharply.

Whoever these people were, they were dangerous, someone you would not mess with if you wanted your freedom. Perhaps their intentions towards her were not of dangerous kind, but _they_ were definitely dangerous, she could feel it.

"You're roommate had no trouble telling us your location once we asked," the man in the suite said, giving her a slight nod. "My name is Agent Coulson by the way."

Alex let out a shaky breath. _Damnit Beth_.

"Tell me Miss. Harper, does this look familiar to you?" Fury asked, and she watched as he pulled out an envelop from his pocket.

Alex didn't even need to take it from Fury's hands to know who send that letter. Her grandfather was a man of simple taste, but there were certain things he did religiously. For example, how he always liked lit candles in the dining room, the way he only drank whiskey that was no less than 20 years old. And the way he _always_ used the same parchment, ink and envelope for all of his letters, regardless of whom they were sent to. He was an old fashion man, who hated technology and believed in the beauty of receiving a good hand written letter once in a while.

"How did you know my grandfather?" she finally spoke, looking up to stare Fury in the eye.

"Let's just say he was a good friend that was worried about your health," he answered, clearly not sharing everything, "And send me this letter as a way of informing me about your _condition_."

Alex felt her blood run cold as she realized what he meant. How could her grandfather ever betray her like that? He swore to never tell another living soul about her gifts.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied, her voice cracking slightly. "My grandfather was an old man, he could have meant anything by it."

Fury sighed, and Alex wasn't sure if it was from annoyance or disappointment. "You're a very bad liar Miss. Harper. But, you don't have to fear us, your grandfather told me about your visions and I'm here to help you."

_Help her?_

Alex almost scoffed at the idea. Who was he to possibly understand anything about her? So what if her grandfather had told him about her, it did not mean he could just come here and tell her she needed his help and expect her to accept it without thinking about it at least.

"I don't need anyone's help," she snapped, a little more harshly than intended.

"Oh, I think you do," Fury said coolly. "Tell me just how bad are they getting now? Do you wake up screaming? How about the constant headaches? Maybe even a little blood if they're really bad?"

Her eyes were so wide she felt like they were about to pop out of her skull. How could he possibly know this much? No one else did.

"How…how…"

"How I know all of this? Simple. You're not the first person I've encountered that had gifts like yours. But you have to let us help you, because all those symptoms are just the tip of an iceberg."

Alex felt sick all of a sudden, she turned, lifting the water bottle to her lips and took a small sip of water, in the fears of choking on it.

"Miss. Harper, you have a great gift," Fury said, making her look up at him. "If you come with us, I promise you that you will be protected and we will try to teach how to control your powers. You will live in our facility and will be provided with you own room. You're not our prisoner, we just want to help you."

"How can my dreams be of any danger to anyone?" she questioned, frowning and staring into her water bottle as if it contained the divine mysteries of the world. Her fingernails, ragged from a lack of care, scraped at the edges of the glass and shook with the faintest tremor. Fury's quick eye caught the motion, reading it as anxiety smothered by bravado.

"Because you can't control it, and if wrong people ever learned of you gift, they would undoubtedly try to use it," Fury replied coldly. "They won't care that you're a young woman, they would torture you if they have to."

A '_woosh_' of air escaped her tightly pressed lips as she glanced at the duo again. She noticed that Coulson was being respectfully silent while his leader conversed with her. His hands clasped behind his back.

"What about my family?"

An odd look passed over Fury's face, before it cleared and he replied, "You're family is safe. And it will remain that way; they will know nothing of this if you don't wish so."

Perhaps it was in her best interest to come with them. If they could keep her safe and teach her how her dreams worked, her whole life would change. Her grandfather obviously trusted this man wholeheartedly, under no other circumstances would he have told him about her powers otherwise.

"Thank you," she said thankfully. "I…_I'll come with you_."

Fury nodded his head and even though it was hard to read his emotionless face, Alex could tell that he was pleased that she accepted his offer. To be honest she suspected that if she didn't go peacefully, he would have found some other way to bring her with them anyway. So in the end, she just saved herself a lot of trouble.

"But… my job and clothes…and…"

"You're job has already been taken care of," Coulson finally spoke. "As for your clothes, we can stop by your apartment on the way back. I suggest you pack lightly."

She nodded her head and moved forward as two men lead her out of the building. She caught the sight of Martha staring at her in worry, Dom with his arms around her doing the same. She gave them a shaky smile and a nod. At least they knew she was alright, sort of.

"Don't worry Miss. Harper, more will be explained to you once you have settled in your quarters back in our base," Coulson said calmly, noticing the slightly panicked look on smaller girl's face. She gave him a weak smile, grateful for the encouragement.

Alex blinked when she saw a sleek, black van waiting for them; its doors already open as if people inside knew exactly when the trio would come out. Alex climbed in first, followed swiftly by Fury and lastly Coulson. Fury sat in front of her and Coulson beside her as they rode towards her home in an awkward silence.

"Why did you take me?"

Both men looked up and Fury gave her a serious look.

"Because you need to be protected, and because I own a debt to your grandfather," he responded solemnly, folding his hands together.

He was telling the truth, Alex could tell. But there was something else he wasn't telling her.

"But that's not the only reason, is it?" Alex asked, gazing thoughtfully at him.

For a moment, if Alex didn't know better, she would have thought that Fury looked almost _pleased_ that she asked him that question.

"As insightful as him, I see," he said contemplatively, staring at her for a long moment as if searching for something. "You're right that's not the only reason I decided to take you with us."

Alex waited for them to continue, but before he could, the car came to a stop and she realized that they were parked next to her apartment. Coulson moved to open the door and she slowly got out of the car, followed instantly by Fury.

He turned to Alex and she stared at him expectantly.

"You are a danger not only to yourself, but to others too," he stated, staring at her grimly.

Fury moved forward and Alex followed, a hollow feeling washing over her like a tide wave. Could her dreams _truly_ be that harmful? But then again, what Fury said made sense, if she did learn to control her powers and wrong people got their hands on her, there could be a disaster. But still, never before has she considered herself to be a danger to others. Besides, who could she harm if all she ever dreamed about was Loki?

However, Fury who stopped abruptly, a pensive look on his face as if he was wondering if he should say anything or not, cut her musing short. Finally, he turned to her, and in a rough voice said the words that left her wide-eyed.

"_And also because I've been waiting for someone like you for a very long time_."

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

Two weeks.

For some it's much, for Alex it was surprisingly little amount of time.

Her time living in SHIELD was going surprisingly smoothly so far. Fury was being honest when he said that she would get her own room and was free to do anything she liked as long as it did not compromise organisations security or safety.

Most of her time during first week was spend holed up in her room, drawing and reading while the world moved steadily around her. She often wondered the halls at night, unable to sleep or rather terrified to sleep, as her dreams have been getting even worse for the last two week she'd been there. Everyone could see how tired she was, but for Alex it was normal, she was almost used to it by now. Even in the past, she actually went as far as to get put in the hospital three times due to exhaustion. She learning how to take small naps instead, enough to rest her body but not long enough to begin dreaming.

This made her almost like a ghost in the base, silent and pale, wondering the halls by herself with a black notebook clenched tightly in her hands. Observing and drawing normal people instead of actually talking with them most of the time, but Alex knew that sometimes it was best to take time and learn about people before you approach them. That was safer.

She talked with human beings; of course, it was inventible that she would. Coulson, who was acting like her babysitter, was the one who explained how things worked around SHIELD and who the people that worked for them were. In many ways, she did not like them. Most of the individuals that worked for SHIELD were cold, detached. They were used like tools, and it was all to do some horrible missions like killing someone. Alex learned two things during her two weeks already here: First, SHIELD was brutal in getting what they wanted and it was everyones best intrest not to cross them. Second, you shouldn't get attached to anyone.

Not that she wanted to get attached to any of these people.

Well, perhaps one.

Steve. Steve Rogers that it.

Probably the biggest and the best surprise she had received in a very long time. It was a complete accident because she met him again due to sheer dumb luck. It was during her second day staying in SHIELD that she got lost whiles trying to find the cafeteria, and randomly passed the gym/training room and that was where she saw him. The first thing she recognized was the set of broad shoulders, followed by the light hair that this time looked slightly more dishevelled than the last.

She was later told more about him and that he was, in fact, Capitan America.

Alex wasn't sure what shocked her more, the fact that Captain America was still alive, or the fact that it was _Steve_ of all people. He just seemed so kind-hearted and shy, it was odd to think of him as a world known war icon.

But as it turns out, Steve was just as lost as she was, even if for completely different reasons. He was asleep in ice for 70 years and woke up to find a completely different world around him. Alex could not even begin to understand his pain. He'd seen so many good people die, his own friends and many more that did not deserve do die in such way. Alex felt truly sorry for him; Steve really was the last person to deserve such suffering.

So, in a way, she felt more connected to Steve than anyone else in SHIELD. Other agents were cold, calculating, willing to manipulate each other at every turn if needed. Steve, on other hand, was warm and kind. He was the only human being in that facility she could relate to at least a little.

So she hanged onto him like a lifeline.

At first Alex feared that she was being too overbearing, but was pleasantly surprised when Steve announced that he, too, enjoyed her presence. Apparently, she looked at him like another normal human being, and not some fallen idol that had risen from the ashes like everyone else did. Suffice to say, Steve was probably the closest thing Alex had to a friend in SHIELD.

The difficult thing, however, was the fact that Steve had his own apartment he could live in. Evidently SHIELD wanted him to learn about the new world and explore it on his own. Alex wasn't sure if it was such a good idea, considering that Steve was clearly uncomfortable with his new environment and needed guidance. She tried to help him out a bit when she could, explaining how some basic devices worked and such, but it was still hard since Alex could see how much he wished he didn't have to ask all this stuff. How much he wanted everything to be the way it was before.

Groaning, Alex rolled onto her side, her fingers brushing against her notebook that laid open beside her. She looked up and smiled slightly at the unfinished drawing of Steve holding her old IPod in his large hand, a puzzled look on his face. It took her a while to explain, in much detail, exactly what the function of '_this strange metal device_' really was.

By the time he left, Alex was tired again; she hadn't slept in almost two days now, her body feeling like a bag of lead but she still fought the fatigue.

"_Attention everyone! We have code Blue. I repeat we have code Blue_."

Alex jumped off her bed, looking around wildly. What on earth was 'Code Blue'? Deciding to check outside, she ran towards the door to find people rushing all around her looking panicked. Alex felt fear starting to building in her own heart as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Miss Harper!"

Alex instinctively turned her head towards the sound of her surname and almost sighed in relief as she noticed Maria Hill striding purposely towards her. Alex wouldn't call them friends, they barley talked before but she held a lot of respect for the woman, surely being one of the few female agents on SHIELD was a big burden. What really surprised Alex was the fact that Maria was even here. Wasn't she supposed to be away with Fury on some secret mission they were not allowed to tell her about?

"Director Fury told me to come and get you, pack fast and only take what you need," she instructed quickly and Alex briskly followed, pulling out her bag and shoving all the clothes and essentials into it. She was finished rather quickly and it made her feel almost proud of herself.

Maria led her down the collider and made one of the Agents grab her bag before he disappeared from their sight. Alex wanted to question where he was taking her things but held her tongue.

The older woman led her forwards and Alex could already see Fury standing at the end of the collider talking with Coulson about something serious.

"Miss. Harper, it's good to see you again," Fury greeted her, and Alex gave him a grim smile. "I only wish it was under better circumstances."

"Sir, what is this about?" Alex asked carefully as the four of them walked towards the lift that would take them underground. She couldn't quite understand what she was even doing here anyway. Shouldn't she be out there with everyone else getting away from SHIELD? Coulson had told her about the Tesseract a week after her stay. He even took her down and introduced her to Dr. Selvig. So she figured it was about that from the brief conversation two men shared while walking towards the elevator.

"That's what we here to find out," he said simply.

The ride was rather short and when they exited the lift, they walked towards Dr. Selvig's lab.

"Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago," Coulson explained calmly like usual. Alex was rather jealous of this ability; she was feeling rather tense herself.

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to pull the test phase," Fury grumbled as a reply. Coulson nodded his head in agreement.

"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement." Coulson replied stiffly.

"It can do that?" Alex whispered.

Coulson shook his head. "Not until now, apparently."

"What are the engine levels now?" Fury inquired, it was clear that this bothered him far more then he let on.

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac," Coulson said and Alex fidgeted uncomfortably. Something was really off about this, she just couldn't figure out what exactly.

"How long to get everyone out?"

"Campus should be clear in the next half hour," Coulson retorted.

Fury paused slightly, and turned to look at Coulson, "It better be."

Coulson did not reply but gave a sharp nod and turned around walking in opposite direction than them.

Fury led her and Maria down the spiral staircase even deeper underground where Alex knew the lab laid, with now lethal weapon malfunctioning. Brilliant.

"Sir, evacuation maybe futile," Maria spoke at last, breaking the silence between them.

Fury gave her a look as if asking if she was sane. "We should tell them to go back to sleep?"

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance," Maria spoke confidently, and Alex gave her a sharp look.

"So what? These people are all in danger, and they still have better chance of surviving if they are as far away from here as possible if this does not go our way."

There was silence and Alex realized that this was most she had ever said at once to anyone beside Steve.

"I need you to make sure that phase 2 prototypes are shipped out," Fury ordered, breaking another awkward silence. Alex perked up slightly. What was Phase 2?

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?" Maria asked, sounding as if she couldn't quite believe that she was going to do this.

"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on," Fury stated evenly. "Clear out the tech below, every piece of phase 2 on a truck and gone. Miss. Harper, you're coming with me."

"Yes, sir." Maria said tightly, and Alex climbed the stairs to follow Fury without a word.

He led her into the main hanger where the Tesseract was standing encased in a metal machine frame Alex had only seen once before.

"Talk to me, Doctor." Fury said loudly as he walked closer towards the Doctor. Eric Selvig looked up, seemingly surprised by their presence.

"Director. Allie."

Alex smiled at the older man. She admired him greatly, he was kind and smart, at time reminding her very much of her grandfather.

"Is there anything we know for certain?" Fury asked.

Dr. Selvig hesitated for a second. "Tesseract is misbehaving."

Fury gave him a look. "Is that supposed to be funny?" he asked in a deadpanned voice that under any other circumstances would have made Alex laugh.

"No, it's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's..._misbehaving_," Selvig said uncomfortably and Alex could tell he was genuinely concerned. She didn't like this either. She didn't even know what it was; it was like a gut instinct screaming at her to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

"Can't you just pull the plug?" Alex asked anxiously, glancing at the light blue box that seemed to vibrate with power.

Selvig sighed sadly. "I wish it was that easy, Alex. She's an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on."

Now, Alex was really nervous.

"If she reaches peak level... " The doctor trailed off worriedly.

Alex glanced at Fury but he seemed calm. "We've prepared for this, doctor. Harnessing energy from space."

"We don't have the harness," Selvig countered, working on the computer screen before him. "Our calculations are far from complete. Now she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."

Fury, however, seemed to think differently. "That can be harmful. Where's Agent Barton?"

Alex stared up, trying to locate him too. She didn't know Hawkeye very well. She was actually a little scared of him. He was so serious all the time, his eyes seeing everything at the same time, the bow in his hands more deadly than any human fist could be. She could never hear him until he was right behind her or around her. It frightened her most of the time.

"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual."

Alex watched as Barton threw his rope down the wall and moved down coming up to face Fury. She didn't miss how his eyes lingered on her as if asking what she was doing there in the first place. Alex's eyes moved to stare at the ground, her mind wondering slightly. What was wrong with the cube now of all times?

"–If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."

Alex head jerked up when he said this. "What did you say?" she breathed, gaining strange looks from both Fury and Barton.

"A cube of space, one end of the door," he said slowly, as if waiting for her to figure out the rest herself.

Horror filled Alex faster than she could cope with it and her lips moved almost automatically, "_The doors open from both sides_…Oh, my God!"

At that moment the cube sparked angrily, spilling light blue energy waves around itself, shaking the entire building from the ground up. Barton grabbed Alex's elbow dragging her away from the Tesseract as the energy began spilling in even larger waves, swirling around one another and creating what Alex could only describe as a portal.

Suddenly, a large blue beam shot out, creating a ball of pure blue light on the opposite end of the room. It grew bigger, before stopping and exploding in a large blast of light that nearly knocked Alex off her feet, making her gasp lightly. Light began gathering on the ceiling above them at a rapid rate, but Alex eyes were drawn to the platform ahead of her, light blue smoke rising steadily from it.

Everyone watched in a state of utter shock when a man's figure began appearing through the smoke. Few Agents moved forward, their guns cocked and ready to use if needed.

The man rose slowly, almost sluggishly, using the staff in his hand for support. But it was his clothes and the unmistakable black hair that made Alex heart freeze in her chest.

_No, no – it can't be…it can't be! He can't be real, he can't be here!_

But it was _him_.

Not in a thousand years could she mistake that face or those green eyes. He was the demon who haunted her dreams, who was slowly taking over her life just by being in her dreams every time she slept.

A gasp escaped her parted lips when he raised his head and she finally saw the eyes she both adored and despised. Yet, this time they were full of pure, undeniable, _madness_. Pure and raw.

She couldn't believe it, but he was here, there was no mistake about it.

_Loki._

* * *

**AN: **Welcome to chapter two! Hope you liked it as much as Chapter one, I mean 15 reviews guys? That's brilliant, you're all great. Thank you all very much. This chapter was suppose to be much shorter and Loki was suppose to appear in the next chapter and not this one. But that was before I managed to to shove it all in, and now your left with a cliffhanger which is even better, right? The plot has certainly thicken at this point and it's only chapter 2 too. ^^

And I'm sorry for any mistakes in this, I've wrote this in one go and after college too - I'm beat! :D Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you thought of it. ;)

**Regards.**

**A.~**


	3. This Is War

**Till This Lie Do Us Part**

**Chapter Three:** _This Is War_

* * *

_A warning to the people,  
The good and the evil,  
This is war.  
To the soldier, the civilian,  
The martyr, the victim,  
This is war. _

– "_This Is War" by 30 Seconds to Mars._

* * *

_**x-x-x-x-x-x**_

Alex would've been lying if she said she never once thought about meeting people she dreamt about. Perhaps it was because she felt as if people whose lives she dreamt about, in a way, became a part of her too. The same thought applied to Loki as well, perhaps even more so than others considering who he was. Every time she dreamt about him and learned more about his past and future, Alex felt like she was breaching some sort of privacy barrier, but never once did she actually regret it.

But now…the one in front of her now was not the same man she always thought she knew so much about. His appearance was different for one, and the spear in his hands shone a low but threatening blue. His hair was longer, wilder but above all, he looked…_sick_. His skin was paler than she remembered, deep shining layer of sweat covered his forehead, deep dark shadows under his eyes making him look like some type of monster from children stories. And yet he was still every bit the handsome God she remembered.

Yet the air about him was different; there was something dark and twisted in it and Alex held her breath while Loki's eyes slid around the room, the wickedness inside those emerald pools shining like a lighthouse in a distance.

For a moment she tried to convince herself that he was not real, that he was not actually standing before her _alive_. She saw him fall off the bridge; she could remember screaming his name when he did. Then how, just how, could he be right there before her, tense and his eyes incredibly aware of even a slightest shift of a foot.

"Sir, please put down the spear!" Fury commanded, his voice full of authority. Alex tensed, not sure if giving him orders in the state he was in was the best of ideas.

Loki, on other hand, stared at them for few seconds before casually glancing down at the 'spear' in his hand. He briefly looked up and a corner of his mouth lifted up into a cruel half-smile.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Loki fired his spear straight at them and Alex let out a pained grunt when Hawkeye shoved her and Director onto the ground to avoid being hit. The gunfire began and in a matter of seconds the first agents began falling on the ground, dead. Killed off by Loki's destructive power.

Alex could barley supress her horror as she watched Loki kill agents right and left with such precision, such brutal force that it made her feel sick.

And then it was over as quickly as it began.

Agents laid dead on the floor, the destroyed equipment around the chamber, sparkling angrily as the lights flickered on and off for few seconds throughout the room. The disturbing sounds of a ferocious fight quieting down to nothing but a deadly silence.

Alex crawled up, her view of Loki now half blocked by the heavy metal table in front of her. She winced when she felt blood on her hands, realizing that she had a shallow cut running down her palm from when she fell.

Cursing silently, she ignoring the blood and glanced at Hawkeye who was slowly getting onto his feet. However, a brief moment of relief of seeing him unharmed faded when Alex watched in horror as Loki approached him from behind. She opened her mouth to warn him, but Clint beat her to it, pulling out a gun with astonishing speed and trying to aim it at Loki's chest. However the demi-god was faster, catching Hawk's hand in dead grip that looked far too painful to be anything but excruciating. Clint grunted lightly and Loki observed him with keen eyes.

"You have heart," he murmured, and Alex did not miss how breathless and hoarse he sounded, his smooth voice gaining almost throaty quality to it.

From the corner of her eye, Alex noticed Fury getting up, but it was too late – Loki reached and pointed his spear at Hawk's chest, blue light gathering up at its tip.

The light seemed to travel up Clint's veins and his eyes turned an alarming shade of bottomless black before shifting into unnatural, glassy blue. Loki smiled, looking triumphant about his success. He stood completely still, observing quietly as Clint exhaled slowly and looked around himself as if seeing the world for the first time.

_Why are you not fighting back_, Alex's mind cried out desperately. Hawk glanced back at Loki and put the gun back into its holster without so much as flinching. At that moment, realization stuck Alex like a lightening bolt.

Loki was controlling him. Somehow he managed to turn Hawkeye against them.

"No," she whispered forlornly, and it took her only a second to realize her own mistake. Loki turned towards where she was still kneeling, looking a little too happy about the prospect of able to maim and possibly kill another person. His striking emerald met her hazel brown and she felt blood in her veins freeze.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" he asked smoothly, his voice brushing against her skin like a sharp blade of a knife.

Alex, gathering the little strength she still had in her legs began standing up, her legs and hands shaking from her nervousness. She clenched the metal table for support, hissing slightly when her wound pressed painfully against the cold steel.

And when she raised her head to meet his stare head on, she took a simple minute to just look at him. Her eyes were telling her that he was Loki the God of Mischief she was always so intrigued about, on other hand, her mind told her that he could't possibly be the same man. That Loki would not kill so brutally and coldly, regardless of the fact that he was a manipulative Trickster and ended the world in Norse Mythology.

It was like he was a different person wearing a memorable face.

_A familiar stranger. _

"You can't be real…" she mumbled, not even aware what she was saying. Loki titled his head for a second, staring her with such intensity she felt like she was about to spontaneously combust into flames.

"Oh, I'm _very_ real, I assure you," he said softly, taking a small step towards her and Alex tensed.

"But…how? I saw you _fall_," she murmured quietly but it was loud enough for Trickster to hear. Something dangerous flashed through his eyes as his body moved towards her again, and this time Alex took a trembling step back.

And just when Loki moved to raise his spear, the look on his face close to one of a murdering psychopath, he froze.

"Please don't."

Alex blinked and then realized that the words were not directed at her. Not at all.

"I still need that," he said, looking at Fury who was trying to get out of the hanger with a briefcase that clearly carried Tesseract inside of it. What really struck Alex was the fact that Fury was going to just leave her there completely defenceless to face a God by herself. Would he have actually done it, if it wasn't for Loki stopping him before he could?

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury stated over his shoulder, his body still turned towards the exit.

A barley audible chuckle escaped Loki, his eyes hardening into pair of icicles. "Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else," he said in a manner that made it quite clear to Alex that he did, in fact, fall off the Bifröst.

Fury turned around, giving him a glare that would make weaker men tremble, but Loki did not; he did not even flinch.

"I am Loki of Asgard," he introduced himself, and Alex's heart clenched when she realized it really was him, there was no more denying the fact. "And I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"Loki, brother of Thor?" Selvig suddenly asked, and Alex glanced at him only noticing the scientist now.

Loki glared, a look of genuine hatred flashing through his eyes, before fading to its previous indifference.

Fury, who was watching Loki carefully, raised his hand in defence. "We have no quarrel with your people," he said calmly.

Loki looked up at him, titling his had in almost sardonic fashion, "And ant has no quarrel with a boot," he mocked, barely noticeable sneer on his face.

Alex held her breath when she noticed unconcealed anger burning in Fury's eye. She looked down for a second, feeling foolishly afraid of such tense atmosphere. It felt as if they were all waiting for something to happen and for one side or the other to make the first move.

But when she looked down, Alex found one thing she failed to notice all this time, and it made her feel almost idiotic for being so unobservant. Right there next to her laid one of the fallen agents bodies, and in his hand a black gun. She bit her lip glancing up at the men who were still facing off.

Her mind made up; Alex crouched down, trying not to draw attention to herself, she moved towards the agent one centimetre at the time. And when she was finally before him, she moved shakily to remove the gun from his tightly clenched hands. Squeezing her eyes shut, Alex held back a whimper as she untangled the gun from agent's still warm hands, and rose slowly to her feet.

"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie," she heard Loki say.

Alex turned to face Loki's back and moved slowly around the table so that she would be able to face him directly, the gun in her arms so heavy and unfamiliar she wanted to stop right there and call it quits.

"Once you accept that, in your heart..." he trailed off, and turned towards Selvig with a speed of a snake, thrusting his spear into man's chest. "You will know peace," he finished off almost gently.

"Yeah, well, we both know that there's a bit more to this, isn't there?" Alex finally spoke, raising the heavy gun with both hands and pointing it at the God of Mischief.

Loki turned to look at her almost lazily, and she knew that he did not consider her a threat. And for a good reason too, because even _she_ did not consider herself a threat, even with a gun in her hands.

_What are you thinking_, a voice inside her head hissed, _are you really stupid enough to think you can harm him? He's a God. You know what he's capable of; he can destroy you in seconds. That gun will do nothing to save you, not to mention that you can't even shoot it right._

Alex knew, of course, that she must have looked foolish. Her face dirty, clothes ripped, hair wild and her hands shaking so pathetically that any danger factor seem to evaporate in a matter of seconds.

"Alex, don't. He's too strong," Fury demanded, his gaze hard as steel, voice as icy as cold waters of Antarctica. Alex, however, stood her ground, her finger on the trigger.

What was she thinking? She'd never even held a gun in her hands before. Sure, her dad used to go out for hunting once every month with his 'friends', but she was never allowed to see his gun up close.

"Alex, was it?" Loki asked lightly, taking few carefully measured steps towards her. "Be a good little girl and kneel before you get hurt."

Alex scoffed softly. And then, _finally_, she realized what this was about. This wasn't about her not being able to shoot a gun, this wasn't about Loki being real, and this was not even about protecting the Tesseract. No, this; this was about _humanity_ as a whole. This entire time, Loki made it clear that according to him humans were weak and did not deserve the freedom they had. So this act of defiance was a direct slap to his face to say that humans were not weak, that they could make their choices freely and that was the best thing about them. Alex was the one who freely chose to point a gun at a God she knew she had no chance of defeating or even injuring.

Maybe, just maybe, humans did not deserve _all_ the freedom they had, but when Alex thought back to her own life—people _did_ deserve freedom. All her life she grew up living in a huge mansion, being the forgotten child, craving the freedom of a choice. And when the time came, when she finally got her freedom, it was the most euphoric feeling in the world.

"_Make me_."

The words were as soft and as quite as a whisper, but Alex knew that Loki heard her just fine. And she was right, as almost immediately, his green eyes blazed up with a challenge. And at that moment, he looked truly frightening; for the first time in her life Alex was truly terrified of Loki.

Few seconds passed as they stared at each other, neither backing down. One belief against another. A God against a human. Fire against Ice. It was like one of those old western movies were rivals stared each other down before finally striking, except this time one of the opponents knew, in her heart, that there was no winning this.

And then he struck.

So quickly, so mercilessly, it was humanly impossible. From the second she saw the flicker of blue light Alex brain screamed only one thing: SURVIVAL. With that, she threw her body to the right, narrowly missing the beam of blue light that hit the wall opposite to her.

Alex's body hit the ground with a sickening thud, her head smacking against one of the metal platforms that protected the wires connecting to the Tesseract. Letting out a small cry of pain, she clenched her forehead, dark spots dancing in her vision as she felt a warm trail of blood running down her face. There were few voices saying something but she could not make out the words being used.

And then, cold metal pressed against her neck, moving upwards to raise her chin. She blinked, trying to see through the blurriness before edges of Loki's face standing before her became clearer. He moved his spear even higher, forcing her to look straight at him.

"You are brave, but incredibly foolish," he stated in a quite murmur, turning the edges of the blade so they were pressed painfully against her neck. "Did you really think you could defeat a _God_?"

Alex chuckled softy, feeling lightheaded as more blood ran down her face. "No. But then again, this was never about _defeating_ you."

"Then what was it about?"

"You really haven't figured it out? I'm shocked," she replied, smiling shakily, her eyes found his eyes again, even though inside her brain was screaming at her to shut up before he sliced her into pieces, she still continued, "This was never about defeating you. This was about showing you that we _can't_ be ruled. That no matter what you do, you will never succeed in breaking our spirits, we will _always_ fight back, Odinson."

His brows furrowed and he stared at her. She bit her tongue realizing that she slipped up once again. His eyes bore into her almost painfully, chilling her to her core; they were so cruel, so ruthless.

"_Interesting_."

She closed her eyes accepting her end. And she waited...

...Except nothing happened.

"Sir, we have to leave, the portal is collapsing in on itself. We only got about two minutes before this goes critical."

Alex eyes snapped opened to see Hawk standing stiffly before them. Loki stared at her for what felt like hours before turning away sharply, disregarding her again. Clearly he thought that she would not be able to get out of the base before it gets destroyed. However, when a sharp shot rang out, Alex was almost positive he changed his mind and decided to finish his job, and it took her a whole minute to realize that she wasn't in any more pain than she already was. Only then did she notice Fury get thrown few feet back and with a sinking horror, Alex realized that Hawkeye just shot the Director in cold blood.

"No, no, no," she chanted in panic, crawling towards Fury.

Selvig grabbed the case off the ground and the group left the room, led by Hawkeye who was in the lead.

"Director," Alex called out, shaking his shoulder. "Please be alive. Director?"

A groan reached her ears and Alex almost cried in relief. He was alive. His eyes snapped opened and he blinked before grabbing onto his chest and pulling a mangled bullet out of his bullet-proof vest. He quickly grabbed her elbow hoisting her up on her feet and took out his walkie-talkie, speaking hurriedly but tiredly into it.

"Hill, do you copy? Barton is..."

A grunt escaped his lips, and Alex wrapped her arm around his shoulders, dragging them both out of the hanger that appeared to be swallowed by the blue glow of energy around them.

"He's got the Tesseract! Track it down!" ordered harshly, one hand still on his chest.

The ground shook under their feet, causing Alex to sway slightly on her feet as she tried not to fall over. Fury seeing this pushed her in front, helping her not to fall as metal constructions and pipes began falling from the ceiling, the lights around the collider they were running down sparkling furiously before fading away.

By the time they finally made it to top level, the base was already falling apart, ground underneath their feet crumbling as they stepped on it. There was a single helicopter on the pad outside; clearly waiting for them as Director dragged her forward and all put threw her inside. Alex gaped in horror as the helicopter rouse into the sky just in time as the ground began caving beneath them.

Throwing herself backwards, she watched in horror as the ground suddenly shot up as if a volcano was about to erupt before the base began falling in on itself.

"Oh my God," she whispered horrified, hoping that everyone managed to escape on time.

"Are you alright?" Fury asked gruffly, causing Alex to laugh dryly.

"_No_. I'm as far away from 'alright' as I can possibly be."

He gave her a nod as if saying he understood, before the helicopter turned sharply and Alex's eyes widened in shock when Fury threw the helicopter doors open, taking out his gun and aiming it at the approaching RV. Wind whipped angrily around them and Alex wanted to scream at Fury, wondering if he was insane.

But before she could even open her mouth a beam of bright blue energy shot up from below them, hitting the helicopter, causing it to suddenly spin and Alex let out a scream as she tried to grasp onto something solid. Alarms screeched somewhere in the background as wind cut painfully into her skin.

A strong arm suddenly locked around her waist, pushing her forward, "Jump!" Fury yelled over the wind.

"NO!" she screamed back. She was not very fond of flying to begin with, and now he wanted her to jump out of a helicopter? Was he crazy? When she came to live with SHIELD the last thing she expected was to be thrown out of a helicopter two weeks later in order to survive.

However, Fury could clearly care less about what she wanted as he pushed her out of the helicopter using his body mass to overpower her. For a second, there was nothing but the sound of wind in her ears, as well as the feeling of complete freedom before she landed painfully on the ground.

She heard Fury land not far from her as the helicopter crashed into the ground loudly, the soil vibrating slightly from the impact.

Alex groaned loudly, and opening her eyes saw Fury on his knees shooting at the car that carried both Loki and Tesseract as it slowly faded away into the distance.

Alex shivered as she slowly got onto her knees, her body aching all over as the last remains of adrenaline faded from her body, leaving nothing but agony of her injuries behind. She suddenly grasped onto her chest, her breaths deep but uneven and for a second she wondered if she was having a heart attack.

She was just a normal person for God's sake – she wasn't created nor prepared for these types of situations. To be honest, right about now she really wished she had some other kickass power that would help her to be a fearless hero. Sadly, that was not the case.

"_Director? Director Fury, do you copy_?" she faintly heard Coulson's voice over the walkie-talkie.

"The Tesseract is with the hostile force," Fury answered tightly, while his eyes turned to rest on her and she gave him a brief nod to tell him that she was more or less alright. "I have men down. Hill?"

There was a pause, and then Hill's fuzzy voice came from the small radio, "_A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors_."

Fury grimaced slightly, but remain professional and cool, making Alex feel just a little pathetic for being such a mess.

"Sound the general call, I want every living soul not needing rescue looking for that briefcase," he ordered firmly. "Coulson, get back to base. This is a Level Seven."

Alex winced, clenching her left side ribcage as she awkwardly got back onto her feet.

"As of right now…" Fury said finally, his eyes momentarily flickering to rest on her bruised and dirty face.

"_We are at war_."

* * *

**AN:** Jeez! Sorry about dropping off the face of this planet, people. Life has been hectic to say the least. I was SO busy all summer it's unreal. However, I'm back now! Hehehe. I finally got to see Avengers again, since my friend gor a pirate version of it! But it was Bluray quality so I could enjoy all the Loki goodness in HQ.

My apologies for this chapter as well, it's been a while and it feels like this chapter is choppy and doesn't flow as well as others do. Not to mention I'm sweating about Loki. How was he? Good? Bad? OCC? His relationship with ALex will be rather complicated considering he tried to kill her once already. Not exactly an ideal start for those two. :D

Let me know what you think.

**Regards.**

**A.~**


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